Far East Mind Trip - Day 5

After a long and busy day of travel yesterday, today is all about immersing ourselves in Tokyo.  We don't have much time to see all that must be seen so we head straight to the train station in Narita to begin our hour long train trip into the city.  During the trip we breakfast on power bars and coffee while reviewing our guide books and discussing all the things we have to pack into our day.  Tokyo in only 3 full days is not for the faint of heart.  But we have a strategy.

Our first stop today is at the Hama Rikya Garden where we will board a boat for a Sumida River boat tour.  We're boarding the boat at the mouth of the river and sailing upstream as far as Asakusa where we will disembark and spend time.  For several hundred yen we were told that we could rent ear pieces to listen to translations of what the Japanese tour guide is telling the other passengers.  But after reading reviews, we found that it is only descriptions of the 13 bridges that we are passing under and the Tokyo skyline which we can see for ourselves.  So we have decided to save the money for later in the day.  The boat ride takes about 1.5 hours and is a nice way to get to Asakusa while photographing the Tokyo skyline from the water.

The bridges that we pass under vary in architecture and size but they are all impressive.  In all the trip is well worth the $9 we paid for passage.  The views of the Tokyo Sky Tree from the water are magnificent.  It's a great opportunity to fill a memory card.  But be sure if you go to get a window seat near the front.  The boats that you might cruise on vary also.  Most are enclosed but many have glass roofs to allow photo taking.  Also obviously, we are in Japan at the wrong time of year.  The time to take this boat trip is in May when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom or during Sakura.  Below are some pictures taken from the cruises with the final one being during Sakura.  It is breathtaking!

The Sky Tree from the water

One of the boats you may take your tour on.

People enjoying Sakura on the river.

The boats vary from old boats that resemble an American river boat to this crazy looking thing to the left that looks like Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea should be at the helm.  But all of the boats are intent on the same thing giving the passengers unbelievable views from the water like the one below during Sakura with the Sky Tree in the background.

Once we reach our destination, we disembark and  follow the crowds through the markets toward the Sensoji Temple.  The temple is one of the top tourist attractions in Tokyo but it will take us a while to get there since we are going through an old world market and that means shopping time!  The reviews on Trip Advisor say that there are multitudes of great shops here.  But the ones that interest me the most are the ice cream shop and the any places to buy inexpensive hand crafted Japanese paper products (stationary, cards, postcards, etc.) and of course tea.  The guide books say that we will only need one to two hours for this portion of our day.  But the reality of it is that Jenny and I can spend several hours just browsing through the market.  I'm not one for shopping during a vacation.  You'd practically have to drag me into a mall or department store.  But an outdoor market like this is a whole new ballgame.  You might have to drag me out!

As we finally exit the market with numerous shopping bags in hand, we approach the temple and the crowd begins to thin slightly.  The Sensoji Temple is the oldest temple in Tokyo.  The first temple was built on the sight in 645.  It was destroyed by bombs during WWII and rebuilt afterward.  It now represents peace and rebirth to the Japanese people.  To the right you can see the temple gates coming from the market.  After a few hours spent wondering through the market and another hour spent walking around the temple taking photos and just absorbing, we decide to move on

with our day but come back after sunset so that we can take a few night photos of the beautiful temple.  The photo below was one that I found while looking for images taken at Sensoji Temple.  I was intrigued by it and tried to look up more information.  My query took me to the photographers blog.  I looked for more information on the posting of prayer blocks in Japan and haven't had time to research it.  But I found it interesting.

A photo of prayer blocks at Sensoji Temple taken by Anderwaimet and posted on his blog http://temporarilylost.com

Our final stop of the day before heading back over the Sensoji Temple for night photos will be Shimbashi Endujo for a Kabuki theater experience.  Before reading the reviews on Trip Advisor I would have told you that I wouldn't want to spend 3 or 4 hours of my few days in Tokyo sitting in a dark theater for any reason.  But now, I'm not so sure.  I mean seriously, how many chances am I going to get to see Kabuki in Japan?  Right?!!????!  So, we'll stand in line and purchase tickets paying a little extra for an ear piece that will give us an English narrative of what is going on.  Tickets are available on line.  But on the advise of TA reviewers we have decided to get our tickets at the box office.  The experience can take as much as 4.5 hours.  So at times they offer options of buying a ticket for just a single act or two.  You can even decide which act you want to go in for.  Apparently most of the action occurs in the final act so it is the best time to be there.  Another interesting piece of advise from TA is that you can buy hot food to take in with you.  But they warn to be sure and bring your own chop sticks.  I'm not sure if it is because they do not supply you with chop sticks or because you wouldn't want to use what they offer.  But be advised.  We read the TA reviews before making the trip, so we are well supplied with chop sticks in our backpacks.  Also the theater contains small coin operated lockers so that you can stow your backpack while enjoying your show.  This sounds like it might be a nice place to rest, be entertained and enjoy a meal all at the same time.

Upon leaving Shimbashi Endujo after being sufficiently entertained and filling our bellies, we head back over to the temple where we get our lovely night time photos and then head to the train station to make our way back out to the suburbs for some much needed sleep.  Tomorrow is going to be another day packed full of Eastern adventure.  So, get a good nights rest!

Far East Mind Trip - Day Four Delayed!

For those of you who were on the mind trip early last week, sorry I didn't post Thursday and Friday.  I was a little under the weather.  But today, all is well again so we are back on our mind trip.  Today we fly to Tokyo.  We'll board our flight at 7:30 AM and then change planes in Shanghai before getting to Tokyo at 3:55 PM.  Once we've gotten through customs and checked into our hotel, there isn't a lot of time left for sight seeing today.  There is good news and bad news on our hotel in the Tokyo area.  It is located 2 miles from the airport in Narita.... that's the good news.  The bad news is that Narita is an hours train ride from Tokyo.  A free shuttle will take us to our hotel which is the Crowne Plaza Ana Narita.  But to get to Tokyo each day, we'll need a train pass.  The starting price for our train pass is 15,000 yen (sounds scary, right?).  That's about $155 US dollars (not so bad in dollars).  That will get us a 4 day pass which is all we'll need.

So, tonight after arriving at our hotel, we've decided to just leave the hotel for a few minutes before having a relaxing dinner in one the nice restaurants on sight.  Our one little "excursion" for the afternoon will be to a local park for a short walk around the koi pond and temple.  We're headed to Naritasan Park which houses a temple which was established in 940 AD to commemorate the victory of forces who were sent to suppress a revolt.  The park grew up around the temple.  The main hall now serves as a calligraphy classroom.

The pond is full of huge koi.  I LOVE koi!

Thank goodness we were told to wear comfortable shoes on our "short visit" to Naritasan because it turns out that there are lots of trails to hike and the deeper you get into the streams and brooks the more there is to see.  Although we thought we would only be here for an hour or so, we couldn't tear ourselves away.  So we end up spending several hours walking around enjoying the scenery and get a little exercise in after our long day of travel as a result.  Thank goodness it isn't cherry blossom time or we never would have made it back to the hotel!

Once back at the hotel we freshen up a little since we have spent the last few hours hiking around a park in the middle of the very humid Japanese summer.  But then we hop on the elevator and head up to The Saifu Bar and Lounge located on the top floor of our hotel which offers the best in sashimi and tempura as you enjoy the view of the city and watch planes taking off and landing.  If there's time we might even make our way to the spa for a massage to help relax us further following a long day of travel.  Who knew we would have to spend such a long day traveling once we were already on this side of the world?

Before ending he day here are a few more photos of Naritasan Park and Temple.  Tomorrow we'll be heading into Tokyo!  I can't wait to see it for the first time!!!!

Have a great Monday!

Far East Mind Trip - Day 3

Even on a mind trip there can be bad weather days.  So, what do you do if the weather is bad but you don't want to waste a single minute of your trip to the far East.   I personally welcome a day of rain for visiting gardens.  After all, gardens are at their most beautiful during a nice spring shower, right?  So, with today's forecast of 80% chance of rain in Hong Kong and a forecasted high of 93 degrees, it's kind of a perfect day to pull out the Sloggers, dress in clothes that dry quickly covered by a light rain jacket and enjoy the Nan Lian Garden.

Nan Lian Garden is ranked #3 of the 356 listed Hong Kong attractions on Trip Advisor.  It's called an oasis in the middle of the bustling city of Hong Kong and you can see in every picture of the gardens that it is exactly that.  It is a beautiful escape surrounded by sky scrapers.  And with the overcast conditions, it is perfect for taking amazing photos.  There is no fee to enter and enjoy the garden.  Also located on the grounds are a souvenir shop, a vegetarian restaurant and several rest areas.  The vegetarian restaurant is said to be very good and the atmosphere is wonderful with it's location behind a waterfall in the garden.  One reviewer on Trip Advisor said that while they were there, there was a rainbow in front of the waterfall that seemed to follow them around as they moved.

Vegetarian restaurant

 Adjacent to the Nan Lian Garden is the Chi Lin Nunnery which is listed as the #5 attraction in Hong Kong.  It is a Buddhist place of worship so taking photos is prohibited once inside the nunnery.  But it doesn't mean you can't take them of the nunnery from the outside. One of the photos below contains a couple of Buddhist monks strolling along at the nunnery.  I doubt that the picture should have been taken.   But I suppose this is a good representation of what you might encounter during your visit.

After such a relaxing morning we'll be prepared to spend the rest of the day haggling with locals in various markets. The two main markets that we have decided to visit today are the Ladies Market which hosts over 100 stalls over a kilometer stretch and has everything from women's clothing and accessories to home furnishings.  We'll spend a few hours just strolling through and watching the vendors and customers in action.  Then later in the afternoon, we'll head on over to the Temple Street Night Market.  Temple St. is sometimes referred to as Men's Street since it is known for men's fashions.  This market does not set up until 2 PM daily and doesn't really start to hop until around dusk.  At that time traffic is closed and the place begins to swarm with the curious.  It's a great place to buy food from street vendors and so that is what we will be having for dinner tonight.  After all, who can resist food on a stick.... even if it's squid....???

And on that note, perhaps it is time to head back to the hotel just in case we caught something from the squid on a stick.  Tomorrow will be our final fun filled day in Hong Kong before leaving for Tokyo and we will have a lot to squeeze into the time we have left in this wonderful city.  Have a great Wednesday!

Mind Trip to the Far East - Day Two

After another early night we are finally recovered from our flight over from the US which is a good thing because we have a full day ahead of us on our second full day in Hong Kong.  We are going to start the day with a trip to Lantau Island for a day at Ngong Ping 360.  We'll take the S1 bus from our hotel to the Tung Chung Bus Terminus which is directly adjacent to the Ngong Ping Tung Chung Cable Car Terminal.  The bus ride will only take about 10 minutes.

Once we arrive at the cable car terminal, we'll make our way up to the window to purchase our tickets which we reserved on line thanks to the advise of the friendly and helpful people on Trip Advisor.  Apparently, although they do not require payment on line, making the reservation on line helps you to avoid a long wait (which can be up to 2 hours according to some reviews) once you arrive.  We've decided to purchase the 360 Sky-Land-Sea Day Pass for about $33 US.  We're doing the one with the Standard Cabin cable car ride on the way over and the Crystal Cabin cable car ride on the way back.  In addition to the roundtrip cable car ride, it includes unlimited NLB bus rides and a Tai O Boat excursion.

Reviewing the NP360 website, we have decided to use one of their suggested itineraries for the day.  So once we arrive at the Ngong Ping Cable Car terminal we will take a walk through Ngong Ping Village.  This will take about an hour and allows time for photo taking and a little shopping if we pass by something interesting.  We'll also have time to enjoy the "Walking with Buddha" and "Monkey's Tail Theater" shows before stopping at one of the many cafes for a leisurely lunch.  Going through the website one of stops that stuck out for me was the Li-nong Tea House.  So I know that I will be stopping there for tea.  Yesterday after I finished writing about the first day, my travel buddy, Jenny told me she was on board for this trip.  Since she and I both have a great love for tea, the tea house will be a must for us.  So, I am not sure if we will have tea directly after lunch or after we have visited the Buddha.  But tea will be had.

The next item on our list of things to do today while enjoying the NP360 experience is visiting Lantau Island including Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery.  This is where we take our cable car ride.  We'll be in a standard cable car on the ride over and the views of the Buddha from the air are magnificent.  Once we arrive, we can walk up the 268 steps to the base of the Buddha (which is incidentally the largest outdoor sitting bronze Buddha in the world) and witness the fantastic 360 degree views of Lantau and the South China Sea.  Work on the Tian Tan Buddha only began in 1976 and was completed in 1993. So this is a fairly new religious monument.  It is located directly next to the Po Lin Monastery which we will visit next.  While at Po Lin you are welcome to enjoy the vegetarian delicacies and aromatic tea to refresh your body, mind and soul before heading out on one of the hiking trails.  The itinerary suggests that this portion of our day will only take an hour.  But I know me and Jenny and I have a feeling we will be spending several hours around the Buddha and monastery.

But once we have completed that part of the day and take the crystal cable car back to Ngong Ping the balance of our day will be spent at Tai O.  Our tickets include the bus ride from the Ngong Ping bus station to Tai O and we've bought the package that includes a boat excursion around Tai O which is a fishing village.  So this ought to be a lot of fun.  At Tai O we can spend the rest of the day shopping in markets, just walking around and seeing the day to day life of residents who live on the water or hiring a boat to take us out to see the pink dolphins.  The website suggests that we allow three hours for this portion of the day.  So, it sounds like there is plenty to do.  There are several temples to tour in Tai O and from the looks of things we'll be able to use up a memory card or two before the day is over.  Jenny doesn't know it yet, but we're having an adventurous authentic Chinese seafood meal for dinner in Tai O.  Hey!  If you want to come along with me on my mind trip, these are some of the things you have to deal with.

After visiting Tai O, we'll make our way back to the hotel on the bus.  It has been a very long day and tomorrow will be just as busy.  Have a great Tuesday wherever you are spending it!  Tomorrow will be another fascinating day in Hong Kong.

Mind Trip to the Far East - Day One

It's been a while since we've done a mind trip.  So, I'd say it's past due.  Today I think I'd like to travel in my imagination to the far east.  After all, I've never been.  I may not ever get to go.  But that doesn't stop me from being interested in going.

I've scheduled the departing flight on United leaving DFW at 7:50 AM on July 6th with a stop over in San Francisco before heading on to Hong Kong.  We have 33 days to get ready for this trip should we decide to make it reality.  We're going to do a two city trip this time.  We'll spend the first half of the trip in Hong Kong before flying on to Tokyo for the balance of the trip.  After lunch in the San Francisco airport, we'll hop on our next flight which will land in Hong Kong at 6:15 PM the next day.  Once in Hong Kong we'll be staying at the Harbor Plaza North Point which is a 4 star hotel on Hong Kong island.  After that exhausting trip and since we are arriving in the evening, we'll just have dinner in the hotel and then make it an early night so that we will be bright and fresh for a long day of sight seeing tomorrow.  The Greens Cafe in the hotel offers a small menu of varying dishes.  I've decided on Green Curry with Prawns for $21 US.  After dinner, I'll be turning in early to recover from that trip.

On the first full day in Hong Kong there are many things to do.  We'll spend this entire visit in Hong Kong since going over to Mainland China requires a visa which we didn't have time to get before leaving home.  Since the day dawned bright and clear we have decided to visit Victoria Peak this morning.  It is one of the top attractions of the city but only worth the trip on a clear day.  We'll take the Metro from our hotel to Central and then walk to the Tram Station from there.  After making our way to the top on the tram we are rewarded with spectacular views of the city from the highest peak on the island.

Our mode of transportation to the top was a tram which you can see in the photo to the right.  At the top there is a shopping center where several restaurants are located.  Or you can choose to have a meal at the Peak Lookout Restaurant which is housed in an old building from 1901 which originally housed workers working on the tram.  Since 1947 it has been a restaurant.  We won't be eating up here today since we are just starting our day and had breakfast in our hotel.

After spending a few hours on The Peak, we'll make our way back down the mountain on the tram and head straight to Aberdeen Harbor where we'll board a Sampan boat to see the harbor.  There is a free ferry that you can take to the Jumbo which is a floating restaurant and the main attraction these days.  According to many reviewers on Trip Advisor, the boats are fewer and fewer each year as the younger generation doesn't want to work so hard fishing as previous generations did.  If you don't have lunch at the Jumbo you only need an hour or two for this part of our day.  We'll hop off the sampan and have lunch on dry land after the tour.

So, after traveling all the way to China, why not have lunch at McDonald's, right?  Well, it's a little more upscale.  We'll be eating at McCafe.  But it is truly McDonald's.  The thing is that it is convenient to our next stop which is the Star Ferry.  It is cheap and we'll have plenty of opportunities to dine at nice Chinese restaurants for dinner.  Plus they take the Octopus Card which we got first thing this morning.  The Octopus Card is sort of like a TollTag for those of you from Texas.  It pays for your transportation around the city and can be used at numerous restaurants and you can reload it at 1000's of locations around the city.  After our Big Mac, we'll hop on the Star Ferry for a harbor tour which we'll pay for using the Octopus Card.  We've decided to buy a day pass for the Star Ferry so that we can hop on and off and see city from the water at night.  A day pass costs about $28 USD and will allow us to go anywhere the ferry goes.  The harbor tour which we are starting out with will take us near the Kowloon peninsula, it will stop at Tsim Sha Tsui it stops at Central and again at Wan Chai giving us terrific views of the city along the way.

Since we got the day pass, we can disembark at any of these stops and see the sights in the area then get back on to go to the next stop.  It's sort of like a Hop On Hop Off bus on water and with locals.  National Geographic has named it one of the 50 places to visit during a lifetime.  With a recommendation like that, you can't go wrong with the Star Ferry.  We'll spend the rest of our day stopping at each of the locations and visiting markets in those areas.  At the Tsim Sha Tsui stop we'll dine at the Jade Garden Chinese Restaurant for some authentic Chinese food.  It is frequented by locals and gets some pretty good reviews.  Plus the views of the harbor are fabulous.

After disembarking the Star Ferry following our night time trip to see the skyline after dark, we'll head back to the hotel for the evening.  It's been a long busy day and tomorrow will be just as busy.  So we'll make it an early night.  Have a nice Monday afternoon and we'll see some more sights around Hong Kong tomorrow.

The Tale of Two Cruise Lines

I know there is a lot of negativity right now surrounding cruising with all the issues that have surfaced in recent months on Carnival then to add to that Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas had a horrible fire last week that could have been tragic if not dealt with swiftly and efficiently.  But I think there is a huge difference between the two situations and that's what I want to talk about today.

It may just be that I've had a bad taste in my mouth about Carnival since the solitary cruise that I took on a Carnival ship 6 years ago.  For the last 6 years, I have said that I would never make the mistake of boarding a Carnival ship again and so far I have held true to that vow.  There was nothing that the crew did on board to turn me off.  It was more about what the entire cruise line didn't do.  From the moment we boarded the ship, you could see that the upkeep just wasn't all that good.  It was just run down.  It seemed that one of two things was happening.  Either the crew didn't care about taking care of things properly or the cruise line didn't give them the tools they needed to do what had to be done.  After a few days on the ship, I was convinced that the problem wasn't with the crew.  They were as helpful, friendly and well meaning as any crew I have ever encountered on any other ship.  I was therefore convinced that Carnival was not supplying them with the tools they needed to take care of their ship.

Perhaps they had enough cleaning products, staff and mechanical tools and they simply weren't given the opportunity to conduct the maintenance that needed to be done.  Or perhaps they didn't have the training to get it all done or to get it done in an efficient manner.  I really don't know exactly what the problem was, but the crew certainly seemed willing to do whatever was required of them.  My personal theory on the situation is that they market to an opening price point cruise customer which can often times be someone who has never experienced much beyond leaving home on the Saturday that Spring Break begins, staying drunk for 7 days straight and then returning home a week later after having vomited all over Mexico.  Stick that person on a ship and you have about 60% of the passengers who were on the cruise we took 6 years ago.  And let's just face facts, if 60% of your passengers are concentrating all of their efforts simply on getting drunk, you are going to need one heck of a crew to keep things clean and in working order.

So, I feel like Carnival is already a little behind the 8 ball simply due to the passengers they attract.  Then if you combine that with a company which only thinks about profits and exploiting those profits for as long as possible, you will eventually run into problems.  If you fill your ships up every single week, year after year, and you continue to only take prices up as your costs increase then the only way to increase your revenue is to cut back on what you spend.  In order to increase your prices beyond cost increases, you will need to offer your passengers a better product.  The product has not improved over the years so that only leaves the option of cutting back in other areas of spending.  If you cut back in on board service, you will eventually stop getting return passengers.  So, in my opinion, that only leaves cutting back in maintenance.  This is only an opinion, but it is what I believe that Carnival has done over the years.  Then when they began to see the negative results rather than addressing the issue and going above and beyond to make people happy and satisfy the public that they took it seriously, they did the bare minimum that was required of them.

Granted, they got their passengers home after the Triumph debacle... eventually.  They gave them their money back.  They even gave them a discount on a future cruise for those who are willing to take one.  My guess would be that if the Triumph or as I like to call it "SS Floating Toilet" hadn't been so highly publicized, the passengers would not have seen all the compensation that they received.  When one of Carnival's crazy passengers falls overboard, sure, they turn around and go back to try to find them.  When the Crown Princess (Princess is owned by Carnival) sailing out of Houston had a toilet problem last month which affected more than 400 staterooms and had passengers reporting "foul odors, long lines for public bathrooms and flooded rooms for up to three days" Carnival was kind enough to offer those passengers an apology and $50 each.

Meanwhile, I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Galveston a few years ago that was 7 hours late leaving port due to intense fog (a natural phenomenon which RCI has absolutely no control over) and every passenger on board was given $25 shipboard credit and profuse apologies.  We didn't miss any stops, at no point was there any sewage visible to me, no inconvenience whatsoever and yet, I got approximately 3.1 free drinks of the day out of it.  So, this week following the fire on board Grandeur of the Seas, the ship made port in Freeport, Bahamas (it was redirected from CocoCay to Freeport due to the fire) where damage was assessed.  The CEO and other high ranking executives flew in immediately and boarded the ship.  Even before assessments were complete the CEO, Adam Goldstein was on board visiting with passengers after meeting with the crew to reassure everyone that they would be taken care of.

Since the fire, all passengers have been flown back to Maryland where the ship set sail from, (mind you, the fire was Sunday and their passengers are already back home.... If it was a Carnival ship, I can't help but wonder if they would be floating around at sea still) they are being reimbursed for the price of the cruise and being given a 50% discount on a future cruise.  Then this morning I got an email from RCI stating that any travel agents who had passengers on the ship during the cruise or booked for a future sailing that was being canceled due to the fire would still receive his or her full commission.  Additionally, they intend to award a $50 bonus for all travel agents re-booking those clients on RCI.

Now you may ask, how was their maintenance and did it cause the ship to catch on fire?  I can't answer that. But I do know that RCI takes all of their ships out of rotation regularly for maintenance.  I can tell you that the ship was refurbished just last May.  Currently, they are working on a 3 year roll out in which all 22 of their ships are going into dry dock for full maintenance and retrofits on updated interiors.  As one ship comes out of dry dock, another goes in.  Royal Caribbean goes out of their way to educate travel agents on these roll outs.  My sense is that with as much information as they give me, their employees must be remarkably well informed.

I just think that the way the two companies handle their difficulties is very telling in what kind of an operation they run.  For me, I'd rather trust my vacation dollar with Royal Caribbean.  Have a great Wednesday!

Could a Camping Vacation be for Your Family?

***Some artistic liberties may have been taken in writing this blog post.  If you were on most of our family camping trips and remember little or none of these events, just enjoy it as a work of fiction interspersed with a fact here and there...  But this is pretty much how I remember it.

I'm not sure if any of you are aware of this.  But I along with other members of my family am somewhat of an expert on misery.  We gained a lot of experience in this field in the 70's when we would spend long weekends and vacations camping at Shirley Creek on Lake Sam Rayburn in east Texas.

Those were the days before fancy campers or motor homes for our family.  It was back when Coleman provided your shelter and that was only available after hours of sliding pole A into slot B and driving tent stakes into rock hard red clay that hadn't seen rain in weeks to put a tent up.  I sincerely hope that I haven't led you to believe that I was in anyway a part of putting the tent up.  I had nothing to do with that.  I was probably sitting off to the side somewhere holding my Mrs. Beasley doll or down by the lake looking for some water to fall into.  I never fell anywhere intentionally.  But falling is something that I have perfected over the years using little to no effort at all.

I remember before a camping trip we would always spend days getting ready.  We had this green wooden "grub box" that had to be filled before we would go.  Dad had built it and it had a lock and everything.  At the time I thought it was to keep bears out.  Now, I'm thinking it was probably to keep three little kids out.  (After all, it was east Texas, there weren't any bears.)  He would put the "grub box" in his boat and then for a day or two before we left, we would concentrate on getting all of the food that we would need for our trip into the box.  We would finish using the peanut butter for instance and Mom would have me carry it out and put it in the "grub box".  It was an important part of the camping trip (the box, not the peanut butter).  It was where all of the food that didn't need to stay cold but needed to stay dry was kept.  It usually did stay dry until the 2nd or 3rd consecutive day of torrential rain during the trip.  By then, the wood of the box would become soaked and water could begin to seep through the box and into the dry food.  Let me tell you, if you have never had a S'more made from soggy graham crackers and gooey wet marshmallows you really don't know what you've been missing.

Moisture was only one of the enemies of a "grub box" another was ants.  You see when a bag of Oreos is left open in a wooden box sitting on the ground near a campfire where various wieners, Fritos and hamburger buns have been dropped over a period of a day or two, it creates a good path for ants to follow. Ants don't seem to be phased in the least by a Master Lock on a pretty hand built green wooden "grub box".  I don't recall any ants tapping me on the shoulder and whispering, "Pssst... little girl.... Ya know where they keep the key for the green box?"  Yet, it was full of ants.  Let me tell you, when my Mom discovers ants in the food during a camping trip, you don't want to be the only other human in camp.  I had to cover Mrs. Beasley's ears....

The grub box was just one of the joys of the family camping trip.  The real joy for our family was almost always the weather.  I remember our family taking a number of camping trips to Shirley Creek as a kid.  I remember very few of them in which the weather was tolerable for even a portion of the trip.  I'm not sure how we chose our weekends and maybe I'm just remembering how uncomfortable it seemed to a small girl who wasn't used to dealing with the elements.  But I only remember camping trips in which we got there the first day and the weather was really nice.  Not too cold, not too hot - there would be a nice breeze, a few wispy clouds in the sky.  This was a ploy of mother nature to suck us into believing that we had, in fact, chosen the perfect weekend for our camping trip and would lead us to leave a tent flap up or a window rolled down on the truck.  That first night, as we sat round our campfire (there were practically never burn bans back then) you could look up and see a billion stars in the clear sky for about an hour.  As the time grew later, more clouds seemed to come in and it grew a little chilly.  But hey that was part of the adventure, right?  Finally after telling jokes or stories around the campfire for a while, I along with my brothers would be sent off to the tent to crawl into sleeping bags which were situated comfortably on top of fold out cots that we brought along.

I would doze off with the wind blowing a little and various night sounds outside of the tent.  It sounded like the sort of relaxation recording that people buy now days.  The next thing I knew, I was awakened while it was still VERY dark to my Mom's near hysterical proclamation that THE DAMN THING IS GOING TO BLOW OVER!!!!  This was in reference to the tent that we were sleeping in and I can only assume that she was talking to my Dad.  The wind was blowing a little harder by this point.  Did I mention the rain?  Yes, it started just about the time that my Mom was convinced we were all going to be blown away wrapped in green canvas with the word Coleman stamped in the corner.  I remember one such occasion when someone (and I don't remember who) said, I'm getting wet.  Then a flashlight came on and started pointing around the tent to various points on the top and along the canvas walls until trickles of water could be seen running down the inside of the tent.  Apparently the worst thing you could do to the roof of the tent if water was collecting on it was to touch it.  For some reason this seemed to allow the water to come through the canvas and form a stream straight onto your sleeping bag.  NOBODY was happy when that happened.

I always remember waking on Saturday morning and walking out of the tent remnants into camp with no fire because you can't start a fire with wood that is soaking wet from several inches of rain the previous night.  On Saturday morning when you are camping for some reason the temperature is always about 25 degrees, but the sky is crystal clear and you can see icicles hanging off the trees and what's left of the tent as evidence that it really did rain the night before and it wasn't all just a horrible nightmare.  The other evidence is obviously the soaking wet "grub box" and the Mom with an expression on her face that can easily be interpreted by anyone capable of the powers of reason to mean WE ARE NEVER CAMPING AGAIN.  By mid afternoon, the weather would warm up.  Dad and the boys would come back in the boat and we would all go out fishing for a while.  The mood would lighten and by supper time, we were digging through the "grub box" looking for any food to eat that was semi-dry and had little evidence of the ant infestation.  The lock on the "grub box" had long since been discarded (after all, who would want the soggy ant riddled food anyway?).

By evening the wood had dried out enough for another camp fire.  Most of the sleeping bags had dried after a day of blowing on a makeshift clothes line in the breeze.  The tent stakes had been driven back into the less rock hard red clay and spirits were up.  Sure the temperature would drop into the teens overnight.  But our bellies would be full of soggy s'more and we were Meyers.... we spit in the face of cold weather.... right?  After all, you can't become an expert on misery without first experiencing it at it's worst.